In 2012, more and more Android-based tablets are becoming available and have some serious ground to make up against Apple's market-dominating iPad.

We've already seen the 10-inch Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime hit the market last December, and though there has been some serious interest, it's hard to call it a fair fight against the latest iPad. In this past week, however, Asus launched a similar, albeit less-expensive option in a new 10-inch Android tablet with the latest operating system (Android 4.0, aka 'Ice Cream Sandwich'), the 4-star Transformer Pad TF300.

How does it stack up against spec-by-spec with the latest iPad? Take a look at the table below.

With a gorgeous retina display and a huge marketing budget, Apple has a siginificant lead in the tablet arena with what many, including PCMag's senior mobile analyst Sascha Segan considers, the ultimate tablet experience. Segan wrote in his rigorous iPad (2012) review:

"I don't think we'll see a better large tablet than the new iPad this year. This isn't about hardware; Android tablet manufacturers could easily match or exceed the new iPad's specs. It's about the iPad app juggernaut."

Not everyone, however, is an Apple fan, and despite the "app juggernaut" experience, some of you may have a strong affinity for Google's open-standards-based Android platform and are excited about where that operating system and mobile ecosystem are headed.

Based on these comparisons of 16 GB devices in similar 10-inch sizes, the Asus Transformer Pad TF300 comes in at $120 less than the iPad at $379, but with a much lower resolution display and no option for 4G wireless networking. The Asus is Wi-Fi only. Look closely below to compare and contrast.

For comparisons of a wider range of Android tablets against the new iPad, including comparisons to Amazon's Kindle Fire and other competing tablets, read Eugene Kim's informative story: New iPad vs. Top Android Tablets.

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